Charlaine Harris is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet in the publishing world, and I feel terrible for her right now. Aside from the death threats, threats of self-harm, and scathing one-star reviews she's receiving from fans who are upset either that the series is … [Read more...] about Charlaine Harris is not your bitch
Publicity: one of the many ways the publishing industry is disastrously antiquated
Cory Doctorow has written a smart piece for Locus on improving PR in the publishing industry. Most contemporary sales, marketing, and PR organizations outside of publishing use some kind of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to coordinate their activities. … [Read more...] about Publicity: one of the many ways the publishing industry is disastrously antiquated
Pockets and autonomy
Men are used to carrying stuff in their pockets, you put money there, you put car keys there. With money and car keys come power and independence. You can buy stuff, you can leave. The idea of some women's clothes not having pockets is baffling, but it's worse than that -- it's … [Read more...] about Pockets and autonomy
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Shadow Unit, and Thoughts on Transmedia Storytelling
Those of you who follow me on Twitter might recall that I had a ten-day encounter with the flu a few weeks ago. Usually when I have the flu, I take the opportunity to huddle under a blanket on the couch and binge on a TV series I haven't seen yet. This time, I watched all of The … [Read more...] about The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Shadow Unit, and Thoughts on Transmedia Storytelling
Things pharmacies can’t do
1. Group all the people on a particular insurance policy into a household, so that when there is a change to the carrier or policy and one member of the household has a prescription filled, everyone else's policy information is updated accordingly. Instead, each of us has to … [Read more...] about Things pharmacies can’t do
If this was a pill
Medicare is about to shut down one of the most successful health care experiments in the country. Medicine has been so focused on what doctors can do in the hospital that it has barely even begun to figure out what can be done in the home. [...] This, too, is a legacy of a … [Read more...] about If this was a pill
Novel in 90 summer round, May 15-August 13
Novel in 90 is a LiveJournal community started by Elizabeth Bear back in 2007. (Here's her original not-FAQ.) It's a kinder, gentler version of NaNoWriMo. The goal is only 750 words per day. There's a daily post to the community, and everyone comments with their day's progress. … [Read more...] about Novel in 90 summer round, May 15-August 13
What sexism does best
The lack of respectful coverage, the slut-shaming and name-calling, all the girly book covers and not-my-titles despite high literary aspirations, has worn me down, made me question everything: my abilities, my future, my life. This is what sexism does best: it makes you feel … [Read more...] about What sexism does best
The Story Length Taxonomy, a proof of concept for online fiction publications
As the Hugo nomination deadline was closing in, Tempest and I were chatting on Twitter, as we do, and agreed that it's silly that it's so difficult for readers to know which of the finicky short fiction categories a work falls into. Unless we happen to follow the authors and … [Read more...] about The Story Length Taxonomy, a proof of concept for online fiction publications
On the Oxford comma
The Oxford Comma is always and eternally invariably correct, and knowing failure to use it is abomination punishable by death, or at least a failing mark. The delimiter of a comma-delimited list is a comma. In the fake and obviously-manufactured constructed situations where the … [Read more...] about On the Oxford comma
